DISINFO: Russia wages war humanely and does not hit civilians
SUMMARY
Kyiv has said that only 2,000 civilians have been killed in hostilities. It shows how humanely the Russian Federation is conducting this special military operation. These are, in fact, random victims resulting from Russia’s bombing factories, ports and so on. These people happened to be in these military facilities which were being destroyed. Russia does not kill civilians deliberately.
RESPONSE
This case may contain graphic/distressful content.
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative claiming that Russia respects rules of war. This claim was made in the context of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recorded 27,449 civilian casualties in Ukraine (9,701 killed and 17,748 injured) from 24 February 2022 to 24 September 2023. Many – if not most – of these casualties were civilians. There is a huge amount of evidence and information about the atrocities Russian troops have committed during Moscow's unprovoked and unjustified aggression. Dozens of civilians were found in a mass grave in Bucha in April 2022. Killings, rape and other crimes against civilians were registered in in that town outside Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who visited Bucha right after its liberation in early April 2022, said: “These are war crimes and they will be recognised by the world as genocide. We are aware of thousands of people killed and tortured, with their limbs cut off. Raped women, murdered children. I believe this is genocide.” EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell called for the perpetrators of these atrocities to be held accountable.
Russian troops also committed atrocities in Irpin, Borodyanka and other towns and villages outside Kyiv. Russia's claims that video footage showing dead bodies on the streets of Bucha is staged have been fact-checked and debunked by the BBC, Bellingcat, The Atlantic Council, Mediazona, the Insider, Sky News, the New York Times and others.
Three Russian missiles struck several civilian objects in Vinnytsia on 14 July 2022, killing at least 22 people, among them several children. Russian forces hit a hotel, a shopping mall and several other civilian objects in Mykolaiv on 14 July 2022 as well. A residential area was pounded in Kryvyi Rih on 9 July 2022. Russian forces also targeted a shopping mall in Kremenchuk on 28 June 2022. Russian troops have literally wiped off the face of the earth many Ukrainians cities and villages such as Mariupol, Avdiivka, Maryinka, Bakhmut and many others. The number of killed civilians there remains to be seen.
In January 2023, Human Rights Watch (HRW) quoted an article by its senior researcher on Ukraine, Yulia Gorbunova, as saying: “Throughout the war, Russian forces have carried out horrific abuses in Ukraine with unconscionable disregard for civilian life. (…) Accountability is crucial, both to bring justice to victims and survivors and to ensure that there is no impunity for these grave crimes.”
Read similar disinformation cases claiming that Russians not involved in Bucha crimes, it is cultural taboo, that Russia only attacks military facilities in Ukraine, and that Russian missile strikes only target military facilities in Ukraine.